Junot Díaz - The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (excerpt 1) lyrics

They drove for a long time, and then finally, abruptly, they stopped. At the canefields Messrs. Grod and Grundy pulled Oscar out of the car. They opened the trunk but the batteries were dead in the flashlight so they had to drive back to a colmado , buy the batteries, and then drive back. While they argued with the colmado owner about prices, Oscar thought about escaping, thought about jumping out of the car and running down the street, screaming, but he couldn't do it. Fear is the mind k**er , he chanted in his head, but he couldn't force himself to act. They had guns! He stared out into the night , hoping that maybe there would be some U.S. Marines out for a stroll, but there was only a lone man sitting in his rocking chair out in front of his ruined house and for a moment Oscar could have sworn the dude has no face , but then the k**ers got back into the car and drove. Their flashlight newly activated, they walked him into the cane—never had he heard anything so loud and alien , the susurration , the crackling , the flashes of motion underfoot (snake? mongoose? ) overhead even the stars, all of them gathered in vainglorious congress. And yet this world seemed strangely familiar (298-299).